Dramatic performance of “For Colored Girls…” caps Black History Month

February 27, 2014 at 7:29 am

As a closing event celebrating Black History Month, seven Beloit College actresses will perform the dramatic monologues ofFor Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When Rainbow is Enuf, the experimental choreopoem by writer Ntozake Shange. Free performances will take place tonight (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday) at 7:30 p.m. in Wilson Theatre of Mayer Hall.

“I knew that I wanted to do something big at the end of the month in celebration of this month,” says Taja Hereford’15, vice president of Black Students United, which organized the event. “I thought it was important for the campus to see our club do something amazing on campus. I think that this production encompasses what we strive to teach people about the lives of people of color--and, specifically for this production--women of color.”

According to Hereford, who is hoping to make the production an annual event along the lines ofThe Vagina Monologues, this production is a storyline of seven women of color, portrayed as the colors of the rainbow, who face different life struggles. (It’s been produced as a stage production and film since its publication in 1975). Some of the women face domestic violence, others face abortion, love, and pain. The roles will be played by Nzingha Hall, Devin McCray, Stephanie Mayo, Tamanisha John, Sofia Jurado, Sudan Garner, and Fabi Hernandez.